Prisons

Gov. Brown is expected to sign a bill passed by the state Legislature to help California comply with a federal court order to reduce its prison population, but some legislators oppose it saying it expands private prisons and involuntarily sends some inmates out of state.

Supporters of a California ballot measure that softened the nation’s toughest three-strikes law say some 1,000 prisoners have had their life terms significantly reduced and have been released from prison.

Democrats in the state Senate on Wednesday backed a plan to spend $200 million this year on rehabilitation programs instead of renting thousands of cells in private prisons and county jails to meet a federal court demand that California reduce its inmate population.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday responded to a federal court order to significantly reduce California’s prison population by proposing a $315 million plan to send inmates to private prisons and empty county jail cells.